The present invention relates to an air conditioner; and, more particularly, to an air conditioner having an oxygen-enriching device capable of providing oxygen-enriched air to the room.
As air conditioners are widely used, many activities are performed in a closed room. However, when the room is maintained in a closed state for a long time, a variety of side effects, e.g., breathing difficulty, headache, weakening of memory, etc., may be caused.
As an effort to resolve these problems, oxygen enriched air separation systems capable of supplying oxygen to room have been developed. In general, the oxygen enriched air separation systems employ separation membranes having selective permeability to oxygen. FIG. 1 shows a conventional oxygen enriched air separator.
As shown in FIG. 1, the oxygen enriched air separator includes a hollow main body 10 and a plurality of cylindrical separation membranes 20 installed within the main body 10. The inside of the main body 10 is divided into two spaces 11a and 11b by the separation membranes 20. The air introduced to the first space 11a permeates the separation membranes 20 and is transferred to the second space 11b due to the pressure difference between the first and the second space 11a and 11b. The air transferred to the second space 11b becomes to have a high oxygen concentration ranging from about 30% to 45% (referred to as oxygen enriched air hereinafter) since the separation membranes have high selective permeability for oxygen. Meanwhile, the air left in the first space 11a (referred to as nitrogen enriched air since the nitrogen concentration of this air is comparatively high) is exhausted through a nitrogen enriched air outlet port 17 prepared at one side of the main body 10.
However, this conventional oxygen enriched air separator has a drawback in that a great deal of noises are generated when the nitrogen enriched air, i.e., the air left after the oxygen is separated, is exhausted. It seems to be because the nitrogen enriched air outlet port is just an open end.
Further, since the oxygen selective permeability of the separation membranes is sensitive to temperature variations and readily deteriorated during wintertime when temperature is low, the efficiency of the oxygen enriched air separator is greatly decreased during winter.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an oxygen-enriched air separator capable of maintaining a large pressure difference -between a first and a second space.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an oxygen-enriched air separator having separation membranes capable of exhibiting excellent oxygen selective permeability regardless of an exterior temperature.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an air conditioner comprising an outdoor unit having an outdoor heat exchanger for performing heat exchange between a heat-exchanging medium and exterior air; an indoor unit having an indoor heat exchanger for performing heat exchange between room air and the heat-exchanging medium; and an oxygen-enriched air supplying device including an air compressor for providing a compressed air, an oxygen-enriched air separator for separating the compressed air into oxygen-enriched air and nitrogen-enriched air; and a supply tube for supplying the oxygen-enriched air provided from the oxygen-enriched air separator to the indoor unit, wherein the oxygen enriched air separator includes a main body; an oxygen-enriched air outlet port exhausting the oxygen-enriched air through the supply tube; a nitrogen-enriched air outlet port for exhausting the nitrogen-enriched air to the atmosphere; separation membranes for separating the compressed air into an oxygen enriched air and a nitrogen enriched air, wherein an inside of the main body is divided into a first space communicated with the nitrogen-enriched air outlet port and a second space communicated with the oxygen-enriched air outlet port; and a pressure maintenance unit for maintaining a pressure difference between the first and the second space greater than a predetermined level.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an air conditioner comprising an outdoor unit having an outdoor heat exchanger for performing heat exchange between a heat-exchanging medium and exterior air; an indoor unit having an indoor heat exchanger for performing heat exchange between room air and the heat-exchanging medium; and an oxygen-enriched air supplying device including an air compressor for providing a compressed air; an oxygen-enriched air separator for separating the compressed air into oxygen-enriched air and nitrogen-enriched air; and a supply tube for supplying the oxygen-enriched air provided from the oxygen-enriched air separator to the indoor unit, wherein the oxygen enriched air separator includes a main body; an oxygen-enriched air outlet port connected to the indoor unit through the supply tube; a nitrogen-enriched air outlet port for exhausting the nitrogen-enriched air to the outside; and separation membranes for separating the compressed air into an oxygen enriched air and a nitrogen enriched air, wherein an inside of the main body is divided into a first space communicated with the nitrogen-enriched air outlet port and a second space communicated with the oxygen-enriched air outlet port; and a heating means for heating the separation membranes up to a predetermined temperature so as to improve the oxygen selective permeability of the separation membranes.